A mother is perfect to her daughter. Or, how Crescent Rose is born. [Years later, when Weiss mockingly declares that Ruby loves her weapon as if it is her own flesh and blood, Weiss – whose Myrtenaster has been bought with a king's ransom – will never understand just how close she is to the truth.]

As Maltran kneels on the battlefield with her blood staining the grass, she gazes at the terrified face of Alisha and wonders why, in her decade as teacher, she has never been able to fix that fatal flaw.